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UCSB  LIBRARY 


A 

0  GROWTH  OF  THE  POSTAL  SYSTEM. 

0 

0 


AN  ADDRESS 


BY 


HON.  JOSEPH  H.  M1LLARD, 


AT  THE  ANNUAL  MEETING  OF  THE 


NEBRASKA   ASSOCIATION   OF 
POSTMASTERS. 


DELIVERED    IN 


LINCOLN,  JUNE  14,   1905. 


GROWTH  OF  THE  POSTAL  SYSTEM 


BY 


HON.  JOSEPH  H.  MILLARD 


Nearly  the  entire  growth  of  the  postal  service  within  the 
boundaries  of  Nebraska  has  been  made  since  my  advent  into  the 
territory  in  1856 — a  mere  boy.  The  records  of  the  department 
at  Washington  show  that  the  first  postoffice  in  Nebraska  was  es- 
tablished at  Omaha  in  1854.  Two  years  later  there  were  per- 
haps a  dozen  postoffices  at  the  settlements  along  or  near  the 
river,  the  names  of  these  places  now  being  familiar  to  all  old 
settlers.  I  recall  that  among-  the  very  first  offices  were  Brown- 
ville,  Nebraska  City,  Bellevtie,  Omaha,  DeSoto,  Ft.  Calhoun, 
Fontenelle,  Tekamah,  Decatur  and  Dakota  City.  The  net 
growh  since  those  days  is  shown  by  the  latest  official  table,  which 
gives  the  number  of  offices  in  the  state  at  959.  A  year  ago  the 
total  number  was  972,  the  installation  of  rural  free  delivery 
service  causing  the  abandonment  of  a  number  of  cross-roads 
postoffices. 

THE  PONY  EXPRESS. 

Before  the  government  established  mail  facilities  in  the 
west  on  a  scale  that  would  insure  rapid  transit,  the  settlers  pat- 
ronized the  pony  express  for  the  transmission  of  mail  matter, 
or  made  other  contract  arrangements  for  getting  letters  to 
and  from  the  states.  Their  experiences  in  this  regard  were  not 
unlike  those  of  the  Puritan  fathers  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  Con- 
necticut and  other  New  England  colonies.  In  either  case  the 


pioneers   were   forced  to  provide   facilities   for   transmission  of 
mail  matter  far  in  advance  of  installation  of  government  service. 

THE  FIRST  RURAL  CARRIER. 

The  books  tell  us  that  long  before  the  Revolutionary  war 
Great  Britain  gave  to  one  Thomas  Neale  a  royal  grant  to  trans- 
port mail  matter  for  the  American  colonists  from  plantation  to 
plantation  at  such  compensation  as  his  patrons  would  pay.  He 
was  at  once  the  first  star-route  contractor  and  the  first  rural  car- 
rier in  America  of  whom  history  tells  us. 

But,  like  the  pony  express,  the  Royal  Mail  was  destined  to 
be  displaced  by  a  mail  service  established  by  the  colonies.  Vir- 
ginia as  a  colony  established  a  postoffice  in  every  town,  and 
passed  a  law  providing  for  the  carrying  of  the  mail  from  plan- 
tation to  plantation  at  a  stated  price  or  fee  per  letter.  Soon 
every  colony  did  likewise,  until  the  evolution  of  the  system  em- 
braced the  thirteen  colonies. 

FEDERAL  CONTROL. 

From  this  stage  it  was  but  a  step  to  federal  control,  and  as 
population  extended  and  avenues  of  communication  broadened, 
the  need  for  uniformity  became  apparent.  Therefore,  in  1775 
the  Continental  Congress  passed  a  law  creating  the  office  of 
postmaster  general,  and  thus  began  the  federal  system  of  post- 
offices  and  postroads  as  we  see  them  today,  every  decade  adding 
some  new  and  valuable  adjunct  or  development.  The  general 
features  of  the  present  system  were  not,  however,  adopted  by 
congress  until  1792.  At  that  time  the  whole  number  of  post- 
offices  was  75,  yet  much  mail  was  delivered  from  a  common  dis- 
tributing point  to  the  settlers  over  a  vast  territory.  In  those 
days  some  of  the  rural  routes  were  hundreds  of  miles  long. 

On  March  I,  1905,  the  number  of  postoffices  was  71,131, 
and  the  number  of  rural  routes  was  31,796.  The  annual  re- 
ceipts of  the  postoffice  department  during  the  first  year  of  its 


existence  were  less  than  thirty  thousand  dollars ;  the  last  fiscal 
year  the  total  receipts  were  over  a  hundred  and  forty  millions. 

EARLY-DAY  POSTAGE  RATES. 

In  1816  congress  fixed  the  postage  rates  as  follows :  Sin- 
gle letter,  under  40  miles,  8  cents ;  under  90  miles,  10  cents ; 
under  150  miles,  I2-J  cents;  under  300  miles,  17  cents;  under 
500  miles,  20  cents,  and  over  500  miles,  25  cents.  At  that  time 
the  sender  did  not  have  to  prepay  postage  on  his  letter,  but  if  he 
did  so  the  postmaster  stamped  it  "prepaid."  In  1845  congress 
passed  a  law  making  the  rate  on  a  single  letter  5  cents  for  dis- 
tances under  300  miles,  and  10  cents  for  any  greater  distance. 
I  think  it  was  some  time  in  the  505  that  congress  passed  a  law 
reducing  the  rate  of  letter  postage  to  3  cents  for  all  distances 
under  3,000  miles,  and  10  cents  for  a  single  letter  for  any  dis- 
tance above  3,000  miles,  and  the  postage  upon  all  inland  mail 
had  to  be  prepaid,  but  in  1863  the  letter  rate  was  made  uniform 
at  3  cents.  The  2-cent  uniform  rate  was  ordained  in  1883.  A 
2-cent  stamp  will  now  prepay  carriage  of  an  ordinary  letter 
from  New  York  or  any  point  in  the  United  States  to  the  far- 
thest island  in  the  Philippines. 

There  were  no  envelopes  we  are  told  until  some  time  in  the 
505.  Letters  were  folded  so  that  the  corners  of  the  sheet  met 
and  were  thus  fastened  with  wafers  or  wax  and  seal.  This 
practice  brought  into  use  the  seal  ring,  long  since  discarded. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  POSTAGE  STAMP. 

Before  Nebraska  was  admitted  into  the  Union  congress  pro- 
vided for  the  registering  of  valuable  letters  and  also  established 
the  money  order  system,  which,  however,  has  since  been  greatly 
improved.  But  the  introduction  of  the  postage  stamp  by  federal 
authority  marked  a  great  epoch  in  the  development  of  the  postal 
system.  Necessity  had  suggested  it.  Up  to  that  time  postmas- 
ters in  many  places  printed  their  own  issues  of  postage  stamps  or 


stickers,  bearing  the  name  of  the  town  where  the  letter  was 
mailed  and  evidencing  the  prepayment  of  postage.  Postmasters 
sold  these  stamps  at  a  private  profit  or  broker's  commission,  and 
the  stamps  so  greatly  facilitated  the  sending  of  letters  that  their 
use  became  general  and  the  volume  of  mail  matter  increased  ma- 
terially. In  response  to  popular  clamor,  congress  provided  for 
a  uniform  postage  stamp  and  made  unlawful  the  use  of  any 
other. 

THE  RURAL  SERiVICE. 

Just  50  years  later  (1897)  congress  provided  for  the  es- 
tablishing of  rural  routes,  which  was  another  great  step  forward, 
and  has  also  operated  to  increase  the  volume  of  mail  matter  to 
and  from  the  country  precincts.  Last  year  the  rural  service  cost 
the  government  $23,000,000.  Today  there  are  872  rural  routes 
in  Nebraska  and  the  department  is  authorizing  solid  service  in 
counties  having  the  required  population. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  there  were  15  railway  postal  routes 
in  Nebraska  with  but  2,000  miles  of  railroad.  Now  there  are 
65  rail  routes  in  operation  over  a  trackage  of  7,300  miles  of 
road.  Can  any  state  in  the  Union  show  a  larger  rate  of  increase 
in  mail  facilities? 

NEBRASKA'S  FIRST  POSTMASTER. 

Just  a  word  about  the  Omaha  postoffice,  which  was  estab- 
lished May  5,  1854,  in  charge  of  the  late  A.  D.  Jones,  with  W. 
W.  Wyman  as  deputy.  Five  years  later  it  became  the  first  pres- 
idential postoffice  in  Nebraska,  when  President  James  Buchanan 
appointed  W.  W.  Wyman  as  postmaster.  Mr.  Wyman  did  all 
the  work  of  the  office.  Now  226  persons  are  employed.  Its 
receipts  for  the  year  ending  March  I,  last,  were  $566,284.  Over 
150  railway  postal  clerks  and  many  rural  carriers  are  paid 
through  the  Omaha  office.,  the  postmaster  disbursing  over  a  mil- 
lion a  year. 


His  responsibility  is  greater  than  that  ot  any  other  post- 
master in  Nebraska,  yet  we  all  realize  that  Uncle  Sam  calls  for 
the  best  grade  of  men  for  postmasters  in  all  the  cities  and  towns 
of  Nebraska.  Happily,  the  record  shows  that  few  mistakes  have 
ever  been  made  in  the  selection  of  men  for  these  important 
places.  Rare  indeed  are  the  removals  for  cause.  I  have  often 
thought  it  remarkable  that  the  government  almost  invariably 
secures  good  men  willing  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  hand- 
ling the  mails  although  the  remuneration  is  too  often  inadequate. 

A  CHOICE  BETWEEN  GOOD  MEN. 

For  a  time  during  my  term  of  office  it  was  my  official  duty 
to  select  men  for  postmasters  in  the  Second,  Third  and  Sixth 
Congressional  districts.  Very  rarely  was  I  asked  to  endorse 
an  unworthy  man.  In  nearly  every  case  excellent  men  aspired 
to  the  office,  and  it  was  therefore  a  case  of  choosing  between 
the  claims  of  two  or  more  good  men.  Sometimes  there  were 
six  or  eight  aspirants,  each  sending  in  a  petition,  and  in  many 
cases  all  petitions  bore  the  names  of  patrons  of  the  postoffice 
who  had  signed  the  petitions  of  the  other  fellows  as  well,  no 
doubt  wishing  to  make  sure  of  backing  the  winner.  At  best,  it 
is  not  a  pleasant  task  to  select  a  man  for  office  when  by  so  doing 
there  is  a  certainty  of  making  a  number  of  political  enemies. 

A  CASE  IN  POINT. 

In  one  case  I  have  in  mind  the  incumbent  postmaster  was 
a  newspaper  man  who  wished  to  be  reappointed.  There  was 
much  local  pressure  to  get  him  to  give  way  to  another  active  par- 
tisan having  valid  claims  upon  the  party.  He  dissented  and 
there  was  considerable  feeling  manifested,  both  parties  being 
backed  by  the  best  citizens  in  the  community.  It  was  stated  to 
me  that  if  the  postmaster  could  be  reappointed  he  would  agree 
to  resign  the  very  day  after  his  confirmation  if  requested  so  to 
do.  They  presented  a  written  stipulation  later  on,  signed  by 


UCSB  LIBRARY 


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the  incumbent  and  the  contestant,  and  their  respective  backers, 
agreeing  that  the  postmaster  should  be  reappointed  on  condition 
that  he  resign  at  the  end  of  the  year  and  give  way  to  the  con- 
testant, who  was  strongly  endorsed  by  the  state  committee. 
Very  naturally  I  assented,  yet  the  man  who  retired  from  the 
office  has  never  forgiven  me  for  my  action  in  the  matter. 

However,  I  can  congratulate  myself  upon  the  fact  that  the 
election  of  republican  congressmen  in  the  districts  named  re- 
lieved me  of  the  unpleasant  task  of  choosing  postmasters  out  of 
a  number  of  good  men  who  aspired  to  the  same  place,  and  I  can 
congratulate  the  state  upon  the  fact  that  in  nearly  every  case  the 
men  appointed  as  postmasters  have  proved  themselves  most 
worthy  of  the  confidence  reposed  in  them. 

GROWTH  OF  NEBRASKA. 

My  observation  has  been  that  in  most  cases  men  chosen  for 
the  office  of  postmaster  have  enjoyed  high  standing  at  home; 
men  who  have  had  a  hand  in  the  upbuilding  and  development 
of  the  communities  in  which  they  live  and  who  take  pride  in 
the  growth  of  our  state.  We  have  noted  the  development  of  the 
postal  service  since  the  present  boundaries  of  Nebraska  were 
fixed,  but  it  has  been  no  more  wonderful  than  the  growth  of  our 
state  in  wealth  and  population.  The  remarkable  strides  made 
during  the  last  eight  years  are  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
west.  In  that  time  I  venture  to  say  the  material  wealth  of  the 
state  has  doubled.  No  country  has  improved  faster  than  has 
Nebraska  since  the  last  census  was  taken.  The  value  of  farm- 
ing lands  has  doubled,  stock-growers  have  received  good  prices 
for  their  increasing  number  of  cattle  and  hogs,  while  the  yield 
of  grain  has  never  been  equalled  in  the  history  of  the  west. 

In  looking  back  over  the  years  of  my  residence  in  Ne- 
braska, I  can  recall  no  time  when  prospects  were  more  pleasing 
than  they  are  today. 

To  be  a  citizen  of  Nebraska  is  indeed  a  special  privilege. 


